New Modules Make 3Com's LANplex 6000 the Industry's Highest Performance, Highest Density Data Center Switch; 3Com Incorporates ISE Technology into LANplex 6000 Switch, Dramatically Increases the Performance and Segment Density of the Industry's Top Data Center Switch.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 1995--Delivering on its promise to further enhance the industry's leading data center switch, 3Com Corp. today announced two new high performance switching modules for the company's LANplex 6000 data center switch. With the new Ethernet/FDDI Switching Module (EFSM) and Token Ring Switching Module (TRSM), the LANplex 6000 switch delivers unprecedented levels of functionality, cost-effective segmentation and performance. For the first time, 3Com is incorporating next-generation application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology -- the company's Intelligent Switching Engine (ISE) chip -- into a module for the LANplex 6000 switch, making it the industry's highest density, highest performance, feature-rich data center switch on the market.

3Com's LANplex family of data center switches leads the data center LAN switching market with 51 percent share in revenue according to Dataquest's mid-year 1994 market revenue reports.

"The LANplex family is well established as the industry's top switch for data center and collapsed backbone switching," said David Tolwinski, vice president and general manager of 3Com's Switching Division. "By fully leveraging the technology and functionality 3Com invested in our switching ASICs, LANplex 6000 switch users will continue to benefit from the increased performance and port density provided by new these modules while significantly reducing the cost of data center switching and preserving their initial switching investment."

Both the EFSM and TRSM allow users to scale bandwidth in shared and dedicated Ethernet or Token Ring segments of various sizes and free up bottlenecks between LANs and FDDI backbones.

With the new EFSM, the LANplex 6000 switch offers more switched Ethernet ports (as many as 176 switched Ethernet ports and up to 12 switched FDDI ports) than any other competing data center switch. The LANplex 6000 switch supports up to 11 EFSMs or TRSMs in the 12-slot chassis and up to 3 EFSMs or TRSMs in the 4-slot chassis. The EFSM features: -0-

-- 16 switched Ethernet ports and two switched FDDI ports per

module for high port density.

-- Low latency single-hop switching to transfer data at more than

562,000 packets-per-second.

-- Elastic packet buffering and store-and-forward switching for

complete packet error checking.

-- Virtual LAN configurations through port groups, MAC address

groups and IP routing.

-- IEEE 802.1d compliant bridging and intra-network routing.

-- 8K address table.

-- User-definable packet filtering.

-- Broadcast/multicast firewall for security.

-- Two switching modes and Spanning Tree support in either mode. -0-

The new Token Ring Switching Module (TRSM) for LANplex 6000 provides cost-effective segmentation switching for Token Ring LANs. It consists of eight shielded Token Ring ports to support a full ring of 260 stations, with two ports for direct station attachment supporting dedicated 16 or 4 Mbps bandwidth to file servers and other critical resources.

The TRSM also features: -0-

-- One FDDI backplane attachment to any of the three LANplex

chassis FDDI connections.

-- Source Route (SRT) and Transparent bridging.

-- 802.1d and IBM Spanning Tree support.

-- Translation between Token Ring and FDDI for IP, IPX, SNA and

NetBIOS allows for direct attachment of FDDI servers. -0-

Both the EFSM and TRSM are easily managed through 3Com's Transcend Enterprise Manager and Workgroup Manager. A future software release will support full duplex Token Ring capabilities.

A Platform for Switching Scalability, Resiliency and Manageability

The LANplex 6000 switch's 19.5 Gbps-backplane supports multiple modules of mixed technologies to provide customers with a scalable, seamless migration path from shared 10 Mbps Ethernet and 16/4 Mbps Token Ring to 100 Mbps FDDI high speed links. Additional scalability to Fast Ethernet and ATM are planned.

The LANplex 6000 switch offers redundant power supplies and hot swappable modules to ensure high reliability. Furthermore, the LANplex Management Module in each system is fault tolerant and switching is distributed across each module to minimize single points of failure in the wiring closet. The LANplex 6000's Roving Analysis Port (RAP) monitors traffic through an externally attached network analyzer which can detect problems instantaneously. The LANplex 6000 data center switch is a key member of 3Com's broad range of switching solutions which also include the SuperStack LinkSwitch family of workgroup switches and the CELLplex family of ATM data center switches.

Pricing and Availability

The EFSM is priced at $18,000 for 18 ports (16 Ethernets and 2 FDDIs per module) and is available immediately. The TRSM is priced at $13,500 and is expected to be available early this fall. All prices are U.S. list.

The EFSM and TRSM for the LANplex 6000 switch will be available through 3Com's worldwide distribution channels, including VARs, resellers, distributors and direct sales. For information, contact 3Com at 408/764-5000.

Founded in 1979, 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS) pioneered the data networking industry. Today, 3Com offers customers a broad range of ISO 9000 compliant global data networking solutions that include routers, hubs, switches and adapters for Ethernet, Token Ring and high speed networks. Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., 3Com has worldwide research and development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and support capabilities. -0-

Note to Editors: 3Com, LANplex, and Transcend are registered trademarks, and SuperStack, LinkSwitch, CELLplex and ISE-chip are trademarks of 3Com Corporation. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

CONTACT: 3Com Public Relations 

Dan Chmielewski, 508/836-1769

Internet: [e-mail]